


First Form

by Davechicken



Series: Kylux - Fluff & Angst [210]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-14
Updated: 2017-04-14
Packaged: 2018-10-18 20:26:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10624533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Davechicken/pseuds/Davechicken
Summary: Hux wants Kylo to train him. Kylo is not convinced.





	

“You always tell me I don’t understand, so… make me?”  


“Hux, this is literally the worst idea you have ever had, ever, in your whole life.”  


Hux is sure it isn’t. Kylo _is_ somewhat prone to exaggeration, and catastrophising. Hux has had to learn how to interpret his common phrases and terms in Basic, but once you learn how to de-escalate his statements mentally, whilst never letting on that you’re doing it, communication becomes much smoother. 

“I know you can’t show me the Force things, but you can show me the rest.”  


“The Force things _are the whole point_.”  


“Well, if you’re such a smart man, can’t you work out a way to include them for a non-Force-user?”  


“…this is seriously dumb. But fine.”  


“Good. And I don’t want you to go easy on me.”  


“Hux, you weigh like, the same as my breakfast.”  


“I’ll see you at six.”  


“Fine. But if you die, I want you to know I told you so.”  


“The role of a teacher is to _prevent_ his students from dying.”  


“Told. You. So.”  


***

Hux has done his stretches and his warm ups. Kylo left him to do those on his own, which is - Hux can’t decide. Is it good that he trusts him, or is it bad that he doesn’t feel confident enough to lead?

Hmm. Second-guessing will get him nowhere. 

He finishes up the calf and thigh exercises, and bounces on the balls of his feet. 

Kylo calls two wooden staves with one hand, and tosses one to Hux. They’re uniform in shape, and identical in length.

“What’s this for?”  


“You can’t use a saber, you’d cut your nose or toes off. You start with these.”  


“But it doesn’t have the–”  


“Balance comes later. You need to learn the basics of blocking, and of attacking.”  


“I don’t even know where the blade begins.”  


“Hux, would you… _please_ just start small?”  


“Okay,” he huffs. “I _have_ used electrost–”  


Kylo moves too fast for eyes, the saber shooting out and towards his ankles. Hux only gets one foot out of the way in time, the other ankle getting a crack that _smarts_ , but isn’t enough to knock him from his feet.

“That’s _cheating_.”  


“You think your opponent will fight by any rules?”  


“This is _training_.”  


“For **real combat** ,” Kylo counters, and spins the fake-saber, twisting his wrist through showy arcs.  


“And that’s a pointless waste of energy, and leaving you unprotected,” Hux counters, and launches in with the wooden stick, jabbing for his chest, but turning the feint into a swoop for his thigh.  


He’s caught just in time by Kylo’s own staff, and then it’s a matter of brute strength. Hux _knows_ he’ll never win that fight: agility and speed are his strengths. But he can’t back down too soon, not until he’s got a play in his head.

The rituals and rotes of his old training come back to him, and he flicks up, aims high, takes the block, and spins off to–

A foot (damn him being so tall) slices at his own, and Hux barely avoids being felled _again_. What is it with Kylo and his obsession with flooring him? 

“I know all the Imperial and Order training. I know all the Jedi training… or what’s left of it…”  


“So stop showing off and teach me!”  


“ _Why_?” Kylo asks, then flurries five blows and ends up holding Hux under a shoulder-high blade-lock. “Why do you want to know?”  


“In case I _need to_.”  


Hux slips under the block, and dives to push his legs between Kylo’s, ending up briefly on the floor anyway. He holds the staff in place next to Kylo’s groin, proving that he could unman (or bisect) him, or at least give him a very hard smack with the stick.

Kylo frowns, and looks down. “Why would you need to?”

“In case I need to… look, I–” Damnit. “I don’t like the thought of being helpless.”  


The Knight lifts his leg over the ‘blade’, and holds his hand out to help Hux up. “You do know you could just shoot?”

“And you could deflect.”  


“And you must _also_ know that these people - who I am assuming are not me in this scenario - could overpower you even if you held a saber?”  


Hux frowns. “So?”

“I’m… I’m not trying to insult you. My Knights are… a different calibre. So are whatever Jedi remain. You can’t fight us with conventional tactics, and you don’t need to.”  


“What if you’re injured, and me offering resistance gives you enough time to win?” Hux asks, hating that Kylo’s weaseled it out of him.   


“…that… would possibly help,” he admits, after a moment. “But I don’t _want_ you in harm’s way.”  


“Kylo, don’t baby me. I know Jedi and Knights can screw with my head, stop my blaster, and fling me into walls. I _know_. I’m not going to run screaming at them unless it’s the _very last_ resort. But I want to be as prepared for that last resort as possible.”  


They stand, then, two men who aren’t equal in one way, but in others - definitely so. Hux doesn’t like the admission of his own inadequacy, but he has to be the bigger man and admit he’s finding ways to compensate. 

“I can train you in buying time,” Kylo agrees. “In drawing things out. It would be easier for you to stall, than to win. If you only worked on survival in a fight, unless you had a clear killing blow, that could… help. And… I need to work on your mental resistance to tampering.”  


That sounds both promising and terrifying. Hux nods, lightly. “Would you be prepared to do it?”

“If you understand it will _not_ be pleasant. You will _not_ like what I have to do, to condition your defences.”  


“But I will know you’re doing it for my betterment, so I won’t resent you.”  


“I need you to promise me you’d ask me to stop, if it really got too much.”  


“…a safeword?” Hux suggests.  


“Yes.”  


“Then I promise,” he replies. “Please… you _can_ teach me things, but only if you’re prepared to help me learn. And you are _the_ best person to show me how to do this.”  


Kylo closes his eyes, breathes deeply, and steps back. “Alright. We’re going to start with the forms. You need to know how to defend against them, which means learning them from both sides. Are you ready?”

“I am,” Hux says, and drops into the alert stance he was trained for.  


“The first position starts here:” Kylo says, dropping into it, and waiting for Hux to follow.  


He’s going to be sore tomorrow, Hux knows, but if it means they have a better chance of both of them surviving any attack… it’s worth it.


End file.
